Math mind MIT bound

Eighteen-year-old Niquo Santistevan’s fascination with math has added up to acceptance to the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass.

Niquo Santistevan

Santistevan, who graduated from South High School in May, will attend MIT this fall, where the honor student plans to study mathematics.

Santistevan said he had planned to attend the Colorado School of Mines to study engineering until he was selected to attend an engineering and summer science camp at MIT last year.

“It was at the MITES (Minority Introduction to Engineering and Science) camp that I took a pure math class and found that’s what I want to do and MIT is where I wanted to go,” said Santistevan, son of Carolyn and John Santistevan.

Pure math is the study of abstract concepts.

Santistevan said he began the arduous process of applying for MIT in the fall and learned by December that he had been accepted to the highly selective college.

MIT annually receives about 18,000 applications but only about 9 percent, or about 1,600 students, are accepted.

Santistevan said he believes his work ethic at the MITES camp and ability to adapt to the MIT campus may have given him the edge in gaining admission to the college.

Santistevan said he was stunned when he found out he had been accepted.

“I started crying when I saw I had gotten in,” he said. “I couldn’t believe it. It still hasn’t sunk in yet. It probably won’t until I get there.”

Before heading off to MIT, Santistevan is attending the intensive five-week Canada/U.S. math camp in Maine, where he will gain exposure to advanced mathematics.

“If it hadn’t have been for Mr. Mara, I probably would be going to Mines to study engineering,” he said. “My goal is to get a master’s and Ph.D. in math and become a college professor. I’d eventually like to do research.”